Earnings reports
give stocks a push

NEW YORK » Wall Street managed a modest advance yesterday as investors concentrated on solid second-quarter earnings and shrugged off higher oil prices and a drop in petroleum reserves.

Investors were anticipating more good earnings news after Harley-Davidson Inc. and Abbott Laboratories released strong quarterly results.

Stocks briefly gave up some early gains after the U.S. Energy Department reported that crude oil and gasoline supplies declined again last week. Some production in the Gulf of Mexico was disrupted due to Tropical Storm Cindy and Hurricane Dennis.

A barrel of light crude closed at $60.01, down 61 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 43.50, or 0.41 percent, to 10,557.39. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 1.08, or 0.09 percent, to 1,223.29 and the Nasdaq composite index rose 0.96, or 0.04 percent, to 2,144.11.

Declining issues led advancers by nearly 8 to 7 on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 1.88 billion shares, down from 1.99 billion on Tuesday.

The NYSE composite index fell 11.02, or 0.15 percent, to 7,400.83. The American Stock Exchange composite index lost 21.41, or 1.35 percent, to 1,562.37. The Russell 2,000 index fell 3.14, or 0.47 percent, to 667.65.

Bonds fell, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note rising to 4.16 percent from 4.14 percent late Tuesday.

Stocks had opened higher on news that the U.S. trade deficit improved slightly in May, although most of the gains reflected a temporary decline in world oil prices. The trade deficit fell by 2.7 percent in May to $55.3 billion, the best showing since March, the Commerce Department reported.

A handful of companies reported after the close of regular trading.

Yum Brands Inc., operator of KFC and Taco Bell fast food chains, beat analyst estimates but lowered third- and fourth-quarter guidance. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. beat analyst estimates, although its second-quarter earnings fell 65 percent from a year ago. And Apple Computer Inc. also beat forecasts, reporting the highest revenue and earnings in its history. Apple shipped 616 percent more iPods than it had a year earlier and 35 percent more Macintosh computers.

Yum fell $1.06 in after-hours trading after slipping 55 cents to $51.71 in regular trading. AMD rose 69 cents in the extended session after losing 12 cents and closing at $19.25 in the regular session. And Apple picked up $1.36 after hours, following an 11-cent gain to $38.35 in regular trading.